a genus of plants of the family Gramineae. The plants are short, compact, perennial turf grasses with panicled inflorescences. The spikelets are one-flowered, and the lemma has a twice geniculate plumose awn. There are approximately seven species, distributed in Middle and Central Asia, Southern Siberia, the southern portion of the Far East, Mongolia, the Himalayas, China, and North America (Colorado). The plants grow primarily in alpine and subalpine meadows. Of the five species found in the USSR, the most common is P. mongholica. The grasses are good forage for cattle and sheep. They are frequently included in the genus Stipa.